SA Censorship ~ where to begin? What the users on this board have to realize is that South Africa from about 1948 to the early 90's was very much a blinkered society ~ and this way of seeing things had nothing to do with apartheid. What you also have to know is the mentality of the times ensured that TV was condemned as "the devil's box" and anything foreign or unknown to the powers that be was seen to be evil.

The Publications Control Board and its' elder brother the Publications Appeal Board had frightening powers and banned everything that they themselves found to be offensive ~ in 1970 alone, 300 films were banned. If you were found in possession of so-called "adult material" (X rated videos, magazines, books, etc) you were slapped with a heavy fine, jail sentence or both.

Herewith a short list of some of the best known films that were banned:

As far as I remember, Black Christmas was also banned, as were most of the Rolling Stones' albums and the Beatles were banned from being played on radio when John Lennon made his comment about them being bigger than the Big Guy.

It was the first It's Alive that was banned and I think that the second one was banned too.

It was a truly wonderful state of affairs with the Govt. telling you what you could read, see and hear and controlling every aspect of your life: a true nanny state.

Before I leave work for the day (it's 16h30 here, SA time) and go and have a beer or some cold freshly squeezed onion juice , I just remembered that the Pink Floyd album The Wall was also banned here, as the Govt decided that the insidious lyrics of Another Brick In The Wall Part 2 were causing schools to be boycotted.

Sad, I've lived in a number of other countries where a lot of so called "western" things or things deemed unsuitable were banned. Made little to no sense as to why once you got to see them. Banning things only makes people want to see them more, I do not need a moral police, I'll be the judge of that.

Thanks for the list, Trevor. Between the ones that did surprise me, the ones that did until I thought on it for a second (Bonnie and Clyde - I'm guessing disrespect for authority and rampant killings maybe?), and the ones that didn't it's an interesting glimpse of the mindset of TPTB at the time. Total Recall, my guess would be the mutant ghettos and structure of the society on Mars hit a little too close to home as a metaphor. Am I in the ballpark?

Damn, Sidney Poitier might as well have not have existed, guess they wished he didn't, as little as his films were seen. I'll bet The Wilby Conspiracy really didn't make it there either.

IMDB seem to suggest The Wild Geese was shown in SA, it got positive reviews in the Soweto Times, the largest circulation black newspaper in SA. This surprises me if true, between the plot and the subplot involving the bonding of Hardy Krueger's character and the Julius Limbani character, I figured this would cross the line.

I remember from a psych class in college, reading about studies concerning television and violence behavior conducted in South Africa because TV wasn't allowed in there until the mid 70s IIRC, and it was viewed as a rare opportunity for studying the effects of introducing TV to a modern urban society.

Trevor is the expert here obviously, if I'm wrong I hope he'll correct me, I think I can see why that film would get banned. That film's story involves a white woman who lived among the Indians, whose loyalty lies more with them than with the government or her "own" people, and a cavalry soldier with conflicted ideals as the story progresses. Perhaps the massacres (first Indian on cavalry, vice versa at the end) that bookend film had something to do with it as well.

Hi there to all from a very hot Pretoria ~ a nice s**tty, sorry, city but built in a dip so that all the cool air rushes overhead. I wish they allowed us some beer at work, but all we have is water.

Sorry, Yaddo, I forgot about The Wilby Conspiracy that was also banned ~ as far as the then SA govt were concerned, Sidney Poitier did not exist, almost all of his films were banned and I also forgot about Lillies of The Field. "Total Recall" was banned for its' violence, but, yeah, I suppose that the Censors could have seen something else in the film. Almost any film, book or publication that challenged what the then govt knew or believed was banned or restriction. Heaven forbid that you should have a yoga manual or a how-to guide on sex for sale in your shop ~ jail awaited you for that.

"The Wild Geese" was made largely in SA and the producer told the govt that there was to be no apartheid on set ~ everyone would live and work and eat together and they accepted this. It was a huge hit when released here ~ my place of work still has it on 16mm film!

"Soldier Blue" was again banned for its' violence but the films that the local industry were making at the time were just as violent, if not more so. Double standards, you see? But the race implications could have also been a cause.

Since TV was introduced to SA in 1975, I believe that there are some people in this country who are only getting used to it now.

Wow.I find this all very fascinating.So now are you allowed acces to films and books to the past,and if so,how diffacult are they to find locallly? It would be exciting to experiance the discovery of new films and books once forbidden...or in the case of movies like the TRIAL of BILLY JACK,a let down.... When it was illeagal to have these videos...did people obtain them in the underground market? And ,more to the point,did you ever get busted for such? If I'm being to nosey,just smack my nose and I'll slink away...

Thanks again for the info, restrictions for violence seems odd to me, maybe I'm just inured to it from having seen so much on screen. Stuff like that I'd figure they just require edits before a release there rather than an outright ban in most cases, but what do I know. Like the rules the Brits used to have (still have for all I know?) concerning the use of martial arts weapons in films.

Understandable about forgetting Wilby, if it was banned at the time. Is it common available there now, or is it so old it's forgotten or overlooked? It's little seen here in the US, rarely turned up on TV when 70s films were fairly common, in my experience anyway. I only found a copy at one video store after being on my wish list for years after reading good reviews in film books.

Yes, thankfully, the era of the PCB and the PAB (1933 ~ 1993) has long since gone and the only films and publications that are banned (and here I agree with the bannings) are those that contain images of what our present censor board deem to be indecent, such as bestiality and child abuse, etc. No films have been banned or cut since 1994. Adult magazines are freely available as are adult films ~ if I had been caught back then with, say a copy of the Playboy that featured Joan Collins in all her glory, I would have gone to jail.

Those films that were banned are now freely available and looking back, one wonders what the hell the fuss was all about. The thing is, those censor boards found things to be offensive so they banned them outright ~ they even seized local filmmakers' products to check if censor cuts ordered had been effected and demanded that all foreign embassies present in SA submit films in their holdings to the boards for censorship or seizure.

I was never busted for possession of these but I know people who were ~ those were difficult times. I remember staying in a boarding house in 1987 in Pretoria when I studied there and I had a beautiful life size poster of Samantha Fox (wearing a black swimming costume) on my cupboard door and was told that if I did not remove that "pornography" from the door, I would be out on my ass. I removed it and put Sammie up inside the cupboard.